At a glance.
- IBM plans to acquire Randori.
- RSA Conference is underway.
- Booz Allen Hamilton awarded NASA contract.
Mergers and acquisitions.
IBM plans to acquire attack surface management and offensive cyber security provider Randori. ITPro reports that “IBM aims to integrate Randori’s software with the extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities of IBM Security QRadar.”
Security Service Edge (SSE) and zero trust company Netskope, based in California, has acquired zero trust smart device security platform WootCloud. Sanjay Beri, CEO and co-founder of Netskope, said, “Securing a hybrid work environment includes the ability to establish adaptive zero trust across users, devices, networks, applications, and data— increasing confidence in policy enforcement everywhere. WootCloud’s innovative technology will further extend Netskope's industry-leading SSE and Zero Trust capabilities, ensuring that critical data is protected from the network, to the cloud, to enterprise IoT devices.”
Arizona-based cybersecurity services firm Cerberus Cyber Sentinel Corporation has completed its acquisition of woman-owned cybersecurity and information technology company Creatrix, Inc. Creatrix will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Cerberus Sentinel under agreement terms. David Jemmett, CEO and founder of Cerberus Sentinel said, "Creatrix is a great fit for us at Cerberus Sentinel, as we both ascribe to creating a culture of cybersecurity for our customers. We welcome co-founders Anna Fleeman and Sami Elhini and their team members, who all will become Cerberus Sentinel stakeholders. This is an innovative organization that collaborates with customers to secure their operations. Their expertise pairs very well with that of our extended Cerberus Sentinel team."
The collaborative open silicon engineering company lowRISC of Cambridge, England has acquired designer and manufacturer of silicon security analysis tools NewAE Technology, Inc. Gavin Ferris, CEO of lowRISC, said, “NewAE’s groundbreaking and accessible tools have the potential to be central to security testing of embedded silicon throughout the ecosystem. With its open-design approach to hardware and its commitment to transparency and security, NewAE strategically complements our own open source silicon design focus, helping create transparent silicon worthy of being trusted. We look forward to continuing to support and expand upon NewAE’s current product offerings, bolstering evaluation of OpenTitan’s own security, and ensuring that open source hardware can be hardened against the most serious attacks.”
Maryland-based cyber exposure company Tenable is acquiring external attack surface management (EASM) company BitDiscovery, and has announced that it will launch Tenable.asm, describing “a new solution that will provide the full capabilities of Bit Discovery’s technology and enable customers to gain a more complete 360-degree view of their full attack surface so they can better understand how attackers could gain access via the internet and help prioritize remediation steps.”
Awards.
The annual RSA Conference is underway this week in San Francisco. Many innovative businesses have received recognition during the course of the event.
The RSAC Lifetime Achievement Award has been presented posthumously to Alan Paller. Described by RSA as “a gentle but relentless champion for cybersecurity education,” Paller was President Emeritus of the SANS Technology Institute (SANS.edu), an accredited cybersecurity college and graduate school.
The Microsoft Security Excellence Awards took place on Sunday, and Microsoft Security has announced the award winners.
Investments and exits.
Virginia-based IT consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton announced that it has been awarded the NASA Cybersecurity and Privacy Enterprise Solutions and Services (CyPrESS) contract to provide cybersecurity and privacy enterprise solutions and services for NASA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). The contract is potentially valued at $622.5 million. Andrea Inserra, executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, said, “We’re honored that NASA has awarded Booz Allen with the groundbreaking CyPrESS IDIQ contract, which seeks—for the first time—to centralize NASA’s cybersecurity posture under one strategic line of work.” California-based cybersecurity-focused global investment firm Ten Eleven Ventures announced that it has raised $600 million for its third generation fund, which will be used to invest in premier cybersecurity companies at any stage. Alex Doll, Managing General Partner and Co-Founder at Ten Eleven Ventures, said, "Our third generation fund is a continuation of the investment strategy we have pursued since the beginning: cyber-specific, stage-agnostic, and global in scope. We look forward to building upon our decades of expertise with a global lens to find, fund, and help grow the cybersecurity companies of tomorrow."
Cyber and advanced technology investor Paladin Capital Group, based in Washington DC, announced the closure of its Cyber Fund II, a $372 million multi-stage fund investing in innovative cybersecurity startups, passing its initial target of $250 million. Michael Steed, Founder and Managing Partner of Paladin Capital Group, said, “At a time when cybersecurity could not be more important, Cyber Fund II is investing in digital solutions of absolute need to advance, sustain, and defend critical infrastructure and modern society. The fact that the fund was able to exceed its initial target speaks to the trust our investors have in our ability to identify some of the world’s most promising and innovative companies. Paladin’s national security experience lends its partners an information advantage that can benefit the public and private sectors through transformative technologies, and this fund demonstrates that core power of our firm.”
Massachusetts-based cloud-native logging and security analytics company Devo Technology has raised $100 million in Series F funding, led by Eurazeo with participation from ISAI Cap Venture and existing investors Insight Partners, Georgian, TCV, General Atlantic, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Kibo Ventures. Marc van Zadelhoff, CEO of Devo, said, “This round of funding allows us to deliver on the autonomous SOC through continued innovation of our technology, expand to more regions to serve more customers, and consider more M&A opportunities. We’re thrilled to have instilled such confidence in our investors that they continue to support our innovation and the value we deliver to customers.”
California-based security-as-a-service (SaaS) company AppOmni has raised $70 million in Series C funding, led by Thoma Bravo with participation from existing investors, Scale Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, ClearSky, and Costanoa Ventures. The company says the funding will be used to “advance product development, fuel international growth, and scale go-to-market processes.”
Cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM) platform provider JupiterOne of North Carolina has raised $70 million in Series C funding, led by Tribe Capital with participation from new investors Intel Capital and Alpha Square Group and existing investors, including Sapphire, Bain Capital Ventures, Cisco Investments, and Splunk Ventures. The funding round puts the company’s valuation at over $1 billion. The company reports that the funding will be used to “grow go-to-market capabilities, expand engineering investments, and increase product development to address market needs across attack surface management, including unified asset inventory, vulnerability management, and security posture automation.”
Washington-based software supply chain security company Chainguard has raised $50 million in Series A funding, led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Amplify, the Chainsmokers’ Mantis VC, LiveOak Venture Partners, Banana Capital, K5/JPMC and CISOs from Google and Square. TechCrunch reports that the company plans to use the funding to “accelerate its product development,” as well as investing “heavily in open source projects like Sigstore, SLSA and OpenSSF, as well as a new developer education program that focuses on supply chain security.”
Israeli cloud data security provider Laminar has raised an additional $30 million in funding, with participation from Tiger Global Management and Salesforce Ventures. This funding follows seed and Series A funding rounds that took place in November 2021 and raised $37 million. The company says the funding will be used to “fund even faster product innovation, to grow sales and marketing to capture the market demand and for the buildout of its global team.”
New York-based context-based AI platform provider Reco has raised $30 million in Series A funding, led by Zeev Ventures and Insight Partners, with participation from BoldStart, Angular Ventures, Jibe Ventures, CrewCapital, Cyber Club London, and private investors. CEO Ofer Klein says that the “funding will be used for both product development and go-to-market efforts.”
Behavioral science and data science cybersecurity company CybSafe, headquarted in London, has raised $28 million in Series B funding, led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Emerald Development Managers and existing investors IQ Capital and Hannover Digital Investments (HDI) GmbH. Business Wire reports that the company will use the funding to “support its customers in changing human behavior and lowering cybersecurity risk with behavioral and data science, ultimately preventing security incidents. In addition, to accelerate its product development, it will expand its team, across all roles including cybersecurity specialists, behavioral scientists, data scientists, and software engineers. It will also focus on go-to-market activities expanding into new geographies, including the US market.”
California-based mobile identity fraud company Incognia has raised $15.5 million in Series A funding, led by Point72 Ventures. The company says that the funding will support its continued growth. Andre Ferraz, founder and CEO of Incognia, said, “Today’s authentication and fraud detection solutions aren’t working for the user, or for businesses, and the market is looking for more innovative technologies. Incognia is pushing the frontier of identity assurance and authentication to deliver increased security with minimal user friction.”
Inbox security and threat intelligence solutions company Cyren, based out of Virginia, has announced the divestment of its legacy Secure Email Gateway business to Content Services Group GmbH for €10 million. Brett Jackson, Cyren's CEO, said, "The proceeds from this transaction will strengthen our balance sheet, allow us to fund additional growth-related investments and streamline our product line and overall business. We believe that Content Services Group is a good strategic fit for this business, will be a good home for our team members associated with the business, and is committed to continuing to support the products and customers.”
California-based access management startup Opal has raised $10 million in Series A funding, led by Greylock. TechCrunch reports that CEO Stephen Cobbe says that “the proceeds will be put toward product development and expanding the size of Opal’s 25-person team.”
Texas-based threat awareness startup HackNotice has raised $7 million in Series A funding, led by Strategic Cyber Ventures and Lytical Ventures. SecurityWeek reports that the company will use the funding “to build the team around an already mature product.”
Cybersecurity startup Salem Cyber, based out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has raised $250,000 in seed funding from five investors. The funding will be used by the company to “hire to expand its capabilities.”
Executive moves.
Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down from her position, and Javier Olivan will be taking her place.
Aviatrix has appointed Michael Welts as Chief Marketing Officer.
Obsidian Security has hired Zhiping Liu as Senior Principal Engineering Lead, Shuyang Wang as Head of Threat Research, Phil Whyte as Senior Director of Engineering and Autumn Wang as Director of DevOps.
Cherry Bekaert has hired Ward Melhuish as Federal Government Sector Advisory Leader and Managing Director in the Advisory Services practice.
Cyware has appointed Matt Courchesne as Head of Channel, North America, and Shashi Nair as Partner Account Manager for North America.
Dimension Data has appointed Alan Turnley-Jones as Chief Executive Officer for the Middle East and Africa.
Synack has expanded its executive team, hiring Michael Chao as Chief Financial Officer, Melissa Lightbody as Chief People Officer, Wade Lance as Field Chief Information Security Officer, and Tracy Pallas as Vice President of Channel.
Illumio has appointed Gary Barlet as Federal Field Chief Technology Officer.
Where business is done.
Texas-based cybersecurity company Red Trident has announced the opening of a new office at the HSD campus at The Hague. “The HSD campus offers us the ideal base to support Red Trident’s growth. Within just an hour, we have the Port of Rotterdam, national cybersecurity units, universities, and a large cluster of innovative companies and partners all working together to solve cybersecurity challenges,” said Emmett Moore, Red Trident’s founder and CEO.
Texas-based IT firm Bridgehead IT has moved its headquarters to the 16,650 square-foot former XPEL headquarters building at 618 W. Sunset. Bridgehead IT CEO Wes Bunch commented, “Moving into this new space further highlights our exceptional technology services, team of experts, and decades of experience. Our company is positioned to continue delivering leading-edge technology solutions for businesses well into the future.”
Company news.
Shark Tank star and former Herjavec Group CEO Robert Herjavec has announced Cyderes, a rebrand of Herjavec Group and Fishtech Group. The company says “Cyderes brings together two industry-leading managed service providers and creates a new category leader in the MSSP, MDR, XDR, and co-managed SIEM markets.”
San Francisco-based cybersecurity, safety, security, and privacy investment and advisory firm NightDragon, along with cybersecurity diversity nonprofit NextGen Cyber Talent, have announced a campaign to raise $1 million to assist in funding a year of community college courses for Bay Area students pursuing careers in cybersecurity. The involved coalition has raised over $300,000 of its $1 million goal, and comprises 25 cybersecurity and technology organizations.
CISA has announced the launch of the CISA Cyber Innovation Fellows initiative, which brings private sector experts into the agency part-time for a short term to assist in specific areas where their expertise does not exist within the CISA.